Venting got 34-year-old art teacher /*Sabrina Milo*/ hauled away in handcuffs from /*Fort Hamilton High School*/ in /*Bay Ridge*/, /*Brooklyn*/ last week. With her husband at her side, she opened up about what she calls the mistake of her life.
"It didn't even occur to me that the foolish statement I made would be perceived as a terrorist threat," she said.
She says it all began in the school teacher's lounge - a private conversation with a colleague behind closed doors. It led to Milo's very public arrest days later.
Wallace: "What exactly did you say?"
Milo: "I started crying and said, 'if I had a shotgun and a trench coat, it would be Columbine all over again.'"
Wallace: "What did you mean?"
Milo: "I didn't mean anything by it. It was just an expression of my frustration."
The 10 year school veteran showed us several letters of commendation, but says recently she's butted heads with the administration over how she handled an unruly student and there've been questions about numerous medical absences. She was injured on the job.
Sarah: "You mentioned a gun…violence…Columbine… People are going to sit and say, 'What were you thinking?'"
Milo: "I wasn't thinking. It was exercising poor judgment. The door was shut. It was adults. Many times we have gathered together and vented in our own ways."
In fact, she says she went on to teach her classes for the next couple of days, visited with those same four or five teachers who had been in the lounge when she made that remark. On Friday, she says she was suddenly summoned to the principal's office.
"Four officers barged in. They asked me if I was Sabrina Milo and they said stand up and turn around and they put cuffs on me," Milo explained.
The charge was making a terrorist threat. She was taken to Rikers Island, and finally released on $100,000 bail. Now she is waiting to see if she'll be indicted.
It's also been tough on Milo's husband, a retired military colonel who's taught at Fort Hamilton High for 18 years. After Milo's arrest, there were initial rumors cops wanted to search the couple's Staten Island home for possible weapons.
Wallace: "I'm sure you wish you could take it back."
Milo: "Of course. If I could go back in time, I would not say it. It's scary. I am scared because I want to go back to my school and teach. I want to be with my students."
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